One of the biggest steps up from Crash 2 is that this game now allow Crash's little sister, Coco Bandicoot, to join in on the Crystal hunting. As Crash, if you try to enter a Coco level, the portal won't work for him at all, and he falls flat on his face as Coco steps up and successfully jumps into the portal, instead.
For some reason, though, while Coco was pretty talkative in Crash 2, in this game, she's completely silent. She doesn't even say anything if she gets hurt. Because of that, Crash's one single death quote in the game makes him more talky than Coco. According to this game's Japanese version, however, she does get a few short, Mario-esque lines here and there. All in Japanese, of course.
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Coco's first level takes place on the Great Wall of China. 98% of this level has Coco go through it while riding on a tiger cub called Pura. Get through the entire level without crashing into anything while also breaking all of the crates you see. Different routes will occur which will decide whether or not you get any crates from the route you picked. Levels like this one work just like the Polar levels in Crash 2, except with slightly better controls and handling.
This is probably an Easter Egg, but Coco can hit the suspended brown baskets for some Wumpa Fruit.
All of Coco's levels have her ride on something throughout their entirety, and because of this, Coco will never go through any Bonus Stages in this game. She also can't become invincible, because all Aku Aku crates left in the level will change to a different crate if she already has 2 masks.
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At the end, Coco gets off of Pura and hugs and pets him. It looks like Coco found herself a new pet. D'awwwwwww...
Every time Coco goes back into the Warp Room, she releases any treasure she found into the air, and goes back down to the center of the Warp Room as Crash reappears for you to regain control of.
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See my N-Sane Trilogy run through this legendary level, here!:
• Crash Bandicoot 3: War...